Electrical connector having contact terminals configured by integrating individually constructed terminal unit

ABSTRACT

An electrical connector includes a shroud and a number of contact modules side-by-side assembled to the shroud. Each contact module includes an insulator and paired first and second contacts embedded in the insulator. The first and the second contacts respectively include first and second contact arms extending along a first direction. The first and the second contact arms respectively include first and second contacting sections under a condition that the first and the second contacting sections overlap along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The first and the second contacts are separate while come to mechanically touch each other when the first and the second contacts are embedded in the insulator.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and moreparticularly, to a backplane connector having contact terminalsconfigured by integrating with individually constructed terminal unitand featured with a simplified and robust configuration benefitingcost-effective manufacturing process.

2. Description of Related Art

U.S. Pat. No. 6,899,548 issued to Houtz on May 31, 2005 discloses anelectrical connector including an insulative housing and a plurality ofmembrane-type contacts attached to the insulative housing. Each contactincludes a fixation portion, a pair of contact arms extending upwardlyfrom the fixation portion and a tail portion extending downwardly fromthe fixation portion. The pair of arms are configured to offset fromeach other and include contacting sections for sandwiching acorresponding contact of a mating connector inserted therebetween.However, it is obvious that the fork-shaped arms are difficult formanufacture, especially in stamping process from an integral metal sheetbecause the fixation portion is thin and may be comparably very weak.Besides, there is a limit on creating the minimum gap between the pairof contact arms.

Hence, an improved electrical connector and a contact module thereof forbeing easily manufactured are needed to solve the above problems.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an electrical connector including ashroud and a plurality of contact modules side-by-side assembled to theshroud. Each contact module includes an insulator and paired first andsecond contacts embedded and stacked against each other in theinsulator. The first and the second contacts respectively include firstand second contact arms extending along a first direction. The first andthe second contact arms respectively include first and second contactingsections under a condition that the first and the second contactingsections overlap with each other along a second direction perpendicularto the first direction. The first and the second contacts are separatelymade and then come to mechanically and electrically touch each otherwhen the first and the second contacts are embedded in the insulator.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technicaladvantages of the present invention in order that the detaileddescription of the invention that follows may be better understood.Additional features and advantages of the invention will be describedhereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and theadvantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptionstaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electrical connector in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a part exploded view of the electrical connector with contactmodules separated from a shroud;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the contact module;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the contact module as shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the contacts of the contact module asshown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a top view of the contacts as shown in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a front view of the electrical connector as shown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe thepreferred embodiment of the present invention in detail. FIGS. 1 & 2illustrate a high speed electrical connector 1 including a shroud 10 anda plurality of contact modules 30 side-by-side assembled to the shroud10. The electrical connector 1 is mounted on a circuit board 7 (as bestshown in FIG. 7) for mating with a header connector (not shown).

The shroud 10 includes a mating face 11, a mounting face 13 opposite tothe mating face 11 and a plurality of receiving slots extending throughthe mating and the mounting faces 11, 13. The receiving slots include aplurality of holes 101 arranged in matrix and recessed from the matingface 11, and a plurality of slots 103 recessed from the mounting face13. The slots 103 are in communication with the corresponding holes 101.The contact modules 30 are assembled to the receiving slots from themounting face 13 to the mating face 11 along a rear-to-front direction.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, each contact module 30 includes an insulator31 and a plurality of contacts 33 embedded in the insulator 31. Theinsulator 31 includes a front edge 311 perpendicular to the circuitboard 7, a bottom edge 313 parallel to the circuit board 7 and a pair ofopposite sides 335.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 6, the contacts 33 include a plurality of firstcontacts 35 and a plurality of second contacts 37 paired with the firstcontacts 35. Since the first contacts 35 are of the same configuration,and only one of them will be detailedly described hereinafter forsimplicity. Similarly, the second contacts 37 are also of the sameconfiguration and only one of them will be detailedly described as well.The selected first contact 35 and the selected second contact 37 arecoupled with each other for jointly mating with a same mating contact(not shown) of the header connector. The first and the second contacts35, 37 are stacked against each other in the insulator 31. That is tosay, the first and the second contacts 35, 37 mechanically andelectrically touch each other as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

The first contact 35 includes a cantilevered first contact arm 351, afirst tail end 354 and a first body 355 connecting the first contact arm351 and the first tail end 354. The first contact arm 351 extendsforwardly from a front and top edge of the first body 355. The firstcontact arm 351 includes a curved first contacting section 352 whichfurther includes a distal end 353 bent outwardly from the firstcontacting section 352.

Similarly, the second contact 37 includes a cantilevered second contactarm 371, a second tail end 374 and a second body 375 connecting thesecond contact arm 371 and the second tail end 374. The second contactarm 371 extends forwardly from a front and bottom edge of the secondbody 375. The second contact arm 371 includes a curvilinear secondcontacting section 372 which further includes a distal end 373 bentoutwardly from the second contacting section 372.

The first and the second contact arms 351, 371 are offset from eachother along the front edge 311 of the insulator 31. The first and thesecond contacting sections 352, 372 are bent towards each other as aresult that the first and the second contacting sections 352, 372overlap along a vertical direction perpendicular to the rear-to-frontdirection. The first and the second bodies 355, 375 are aligned witheach other along a third direction perpendicular to the rear-to-frontdirection and the vertical direction, and mechanically and electricallyengage each other to establish connection thereof. The first and thesecond bodies 355, 375 are embedded in the insulator 31 for facilitatingorganizing the contacts 33. The first and the second tail ends 354, 374are aligned with each other along the third direction and directlyengage each other for being compressibly received in a same hole 71 ofthe circuit board 7 as shown in FIG. 7.

Referring to FIGS. 3-5, the first contacts 35 of each contact module 30are stamped from a first metal sheet and the second contacts 37 of eachcontact module 30 are stamped from a second metal sheet which isseparated from the first metal sheet. As a result of this arrangement,for each of the first and the second contacts 35, 37, a structurethereof is easy to manufacture from a single carrier strip. Besides, thefirst and the second contacting sections each is made from a singlemetal sheet in order to provide robust elasticity thereof and decreasethe insertion force for smoothly mating with the contact of headerconnector. The first and the second contacts 35, 37 are separated fromeach other before both married and embedded in the insulator 31.However, the first and the second contacts 35, 37 come into contact witheach other while they are embedded and married in the insulator 31 asshown in FIGS. 5-7. The stacked first and the second bodies 355, 375 andthe first and the second tail ends 354, 374 are provided for controllingand ensuring impedance matching.

In assembly, the contact modules 30 are inserted to the shroud 10. Thecontacting sections 352, 372 are received in the same hole 101 as shownin FIG. 7. The enlarged distal ends 353, 373 abut against inner sides ofthe hole 101 for guiding the insertion of the contacts of the headerconnector.

It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous,characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been setforth in the foregoing description, together with details of thestructure and function of the invention, the disclosed is illustrativeonly, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters ofnumber, shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles ofthe invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaningof the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.

1. An electrical connector comprising: a shroud; and a plurality ofcontact modules side-by-side assembled to the shroud, each contactmodule comprising an insulator with paired first and second contactsembedded and stacked against each other in the insulator; the first andthe second contacts respectively comprising first and second contactarms extending along a first direction, the first and the second contactarms respectively comprising first and second contacting sectionsoverlapping as viewed from a second direction perpendicular to the firstdirection; wherein the first and the second contacts are separatelymade.
 2. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein thefirst direction is a horizontal direction and the second direction is avertical direction.
 3. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1,wherein the first and the second contacts mechanically and electricallytouch each other.
 4. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1,wherein the first and the second contact arms extend substantiallyparallel to each other and are located one above the other.
 5. Theelectrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first and thesecond contacting sections are curvilinear and bent towards each otherto overlap associated first and second contacting sections along thesecond direction.
 6. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1,wherein the shroud comprises a plurality of rear slots receiving thecorresponding contact modules and a plurality of front holes and whereinthe first and the second contacting sections of a contact pair areassociated with a same front hole, the first and the second contactingsections respectively comprising enlarged first and second distal endsbent outwardly from the corresponding first and the second contactingsections for guiding insertion of a contact of a mating connector. 7.The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the firstcontact comprises a first tail and a first body connecting the firstcontact arm and the first tail, and the second contact comprises asecond tail and a second body connecting the second contact arm and thesecond tail, the first and the second bodies being embedded in theinsulator.
 8. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 7, whereinthe first and the second bodies are aligned with each other along athird direction perpendicular to the first and the second directions,the first and the second bodies directly touching each other.
 9. Theelectrical connector as claimed in claim 7, wherein the first and thesecond tails directly touch each other.
 10. The electrical connector asclaimed in claim 9, wherein the first and the second tails are for beingcompressibly received in a same hole of a circuit board.
 11. A contactmodule comprising: an insulator; and first and second contacts eachcomprising a cantilevered contact arm extending along a rear-to-frontdirection, a tail end and a body connecting the contact arm and the tailend, the contact arms each comprising a curved contacting section benttowards each other to overlap the contacting sections along a verticaldirection perpendicular to the rear-to-front direction, the bodies ofthe first and the second contacts being embedded in the insulator;wherein the first and the second contacts touch each other and the tailends of the first and the second contacts are for being received in asame hole of a circuit board.
 12. The contact module as claimed in claim11, wherein the contact arms of the first and the second contacts extendsubstantially parallel to each other and are located one above theother.
 13. The contact module as claimed in claim 11, wherein the bodiesof the first and the second contacts are aligned with each other along athird direction perpendicular to the rear-to-front direction and thevertical direction.
 14. The contact module as claimed in claim 13,wherein the bodies of the first and the second contacts directly toucheach other.
 15. The contact module as claimed in claim 11, wherein thetail ends of the first and the second contacts directly touch eachother.
 16. The contact module as claimed in claim 15, wherein the tailends of the first and the second contacts are for being compressiblyreceived in the same hole of the circuit board.
 17. An electricalconnector assembly comprising: an insulative housing defining at leastone row of through holes in a front portion thereof, each hole extendingin a front-to-back direction while said row extending along a verticaldirection perpendicular to said front-to-back direction; a single groovedisposed in a rear portion of the housing and extending in both saidvertical direction and said front-to-back direction to simultaneouslycommunicate with all said through holes in said front-to-back direction;a terminal module located behind the housing in said front-to-backdirection and equipped with a plurality of contacts, each of saidcontacts defining opposite first and second parts essentially mostlystacked with each other in a transverse direction perpendicular to bothsaid vertical direction and said front-to-back direction, said contactsdefining contacting portions arranged parallel to one another in saidvertical direction; wherein in each contact, the first part defines afirst resilient contacting section extending in said front-to-backdirection at a lower level in the groove with a first front contactingapex section while the second part defines a second resilient contactingsection extending in said front-to-back direction at a higher level inthe groove with a second front contacting apex section; wherein bothsaid first front contacting apex section and said second frontcontacting apex section, which are adapted to cooperate with each otherto sandwich a blade type complementary contact of a mating connector,are forwardly exposed to an exterior in said front-to-back directionthrough the corresponding through hole under condition that the firstfront contacting apex section and the second front contacting apexsection are at least partially overlapped with each other in saidvertical direction.
 18. The electrical connector assembly as claimed inclaim 17, wherein in each contact, a front end of the first resilientcontacting section defines a downward tab extending downwardly in thevertical direction while the front end of the second resilientcontacting section defines an upward tab extending upwardly in thevertical direction under condition that the downward tab is partiallyoverlapped, in the transverse direction, with the upward tab of theadjacent contact below while the upward tab is partially overlapped, inthe transverse direction, with the downward tab of the adjacent contactabove.
 19. The electrical connector assembly as claimed in claim 18,wherein the upward tab and the downward tab do not communicate, in thefront-to-back direction, with the exterior via the corresponding throughhole for exposure to the exterior but are hidden behind a front face ofthe housing.